Gasification is a process for converting carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide and hydrogen by reacting the raw material at high temperatures with a limited but measured amount of oxygen and/or steam. If the biomass is naturally sufficiently oxygenated, then no oxygen and/or steam need be utilized in the gasification. The resulting mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas is known as synthesis gas or syngas. Basically, gasification is a method for extracting energy from different types of organic materials. The resulting syngas may be a more efficient combustion source than the original material.
The syngas can be used directly for energy production. Syngas is also used, via additional processing, to produce methanol and hydrogen or is converted via the Fischer-Tropsch process into a synthetic fuel, such as synthetic biodiesel. Gasification can also begin with materials that are not otherwise useful as fuels. For example, bio-mass/organic waste can be used as the feed material.
The amount of energy introduced to the gasification process is a major expense that subtracts from the net power production from the syngas. There is also an environmental impact to producing the required energy for gasification. On the other hand, biomass gasification and combustion is a potentially renewable energy that is CO2 neutral. That is, biomass gasification can remove the same amount of CO2 from the atmosphere as is emitted from gasification and combustion.
There is a need for improvements to the chemical biomass gasification process. Ideally, such improvements would improve gas yield, reduce tar production, and otherwise produce an improved gasification process for biomass. In addition, for the portion of the gasification product that results in a liquid product, an improved gasification process should ideally produce methanol to create a more stable liquid product.